Worries of A College Boy's Mind
by NinjaBuddy
Summary: Nate and Ruby.  The hit couple at the U, right? Wrong. Ruby's been acting strange for a while now... What does Nate make of it? Is Ruby going to break up with him? N/R Fluff.


For once in my life, I, Nate Cross, am nervous. It's not the ol' run-of-the-mill jitters. Oh, no. It's the fact that my girlfriend, Ruby Cooper, is acting strange. Not the "it's my time-of-the-month" strange, it's more like "I'm-breaking-up-with-you-so-I-can't-look-you-in-the-eye strange". I'm just getting this vibe. There are a few differences I've noticed for a couple weeks now. Like how she won't look me in the eyes, or if I ask her what's wrong, she just looks away and avoids the question with a simple "fine".

Now, if she was acting this way with anyone else, they probably wouldn't notice. But me- I notice these things. I can read her like a book, and pride myself on that fact, because I may be the only one who can, excluding Cora of course. If she's sad? I can tell. Mad? Oh, that's easy. Nervous? It's a little tougher, but I certainly can. And that's what she is right now. We've been dating (I hate that word. It makes it sound like it won't last. But with me and Ruby, I'm pretty sure it will) for two and half years, not including that little three month thing we had before we got back together. We're juniors in college, and both are at the U. I'm on the swim team, and with practices, it's really hard for us to find time to spend together. But, to my surprise- and great pleasure- we've never been happier. Well, _I_ haven't. But now that she's acting this way, I don't know about her.

I love her; she just doesn't know it yet. Well, she might, but I haven't told her. Yes, I know what you're thinking: He's such a coward. I know, because I'm thinking that too. It's not that I'm afraid of admitting it, because I have absolutely no problem with that. It's the fact that she might not be ready. Ready for what, you ask? To be loved. Well, no. I should probably rephrase that. To be loved _in this way_. She's already loved by Cora, Jamie, and Olivia, but that's in a totally different way.

See, she has this problem with independence. I know she's gotten over it almost completely; it's just, if I tell her I love her, will she run away? That's the problem. I don't know, and I don't want to risk it, so I'll let her say it first. I know, I know, I'm a major wuss, but what guy isn't when the girl they love might just run away from them? And I sure as hell don't want that to happen again.

"Nate?" her angelic voice rang through my dorm. Okay, that was totally cliché', but it _is_ true. Just go with it. She sounded nervous. Thought's going through my head right now? Oh gosh, she's breaking up with me. Right now.

"Hmm?" I replied, somewhat scared, and totally not paying attention. No. She won't break up with me. She can't. I love her too much.

"Woo hoo, earth to Nate Cross," I heard her say as I saw a small hand cross over my line of vision. Before she knew what was happening, I grabbed her hand, swung her around, and pulled her in my lap. She giggled. Yes, you heard right. Ruby Cooper _giggled_. And I'm proud to admit that I'm the only who can make her do so.

I kissed her temple and asked, "What are you doin' today?"

She giggled again as she leaned against my chest. Ahh, young love. "Hmm. I dunno. I was hoping to hang out with my amazingly sexy boyfriend, but…" she trailed off. No. No buts. She's gonna spend time with me, whether she likes it or not. Whoa. That made me sound like I'm a maniacal serial rapist.

"But…?" I egged her on.

"But, he might have plans. So…" she said as she started to stand up. She was avoiding something, and I knew that she knew that I knew she was.

I grabbed her and pulled her onto my lap once again, burying my head into her hair. "Nope, I don't think he has any plans. In fact, if I were him, I would cancel all of them to spend time with you."

I looked down at her and saw her blush a brilliant shade of red. "Okay," she let out- what I hoped was- a contented sigh and leaned against me once more.

She seemed unsettled, and I wanted to find out why. "Hun?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she replied, eyes closed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, wanting to get to the root of this once and for all.

She seemed to freeze. "N-n-nothing," she stuttered, unsure of herself.

I sighed. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't hide things from me. I somehow managed to flip her, so she was straddling my lap, facing me. She was biting her lip, and I knew that meant she was nervous.

"Ruby. You know you can't hide things from me. What's wrong?" I asked, wanting to know the answer, but hating that I want to know.

"Well, Nate. You're the best guy a girl could ask for…" she started. Now, it was my turn to freeze up. This was the traditional talk for a break-up. The ol' "you're too good for me," speech. Gosh. I _so_ hoped that wasn't what this was.

"…and-" she continued, but I cut her off.

"Wait. I have something to say first," I said, desperate.

"No, Nate. I really think I should go first," she replied firmly.

"No. I really need to say this," I demanded.

Ruby sighed in annoyance, and I inwardly flinched. I hate making her annoyed. "Well, okay. Since we both have something to say, let's say it at the same time, alright?" she compromised.

"Alright," I muttered, not sure how this would have worked. I mean, if I said "Please don't break up with me," and she said "I'm breaking up with you", I thought that would have been kind of weird.

"Okay. On the count of three. One…" she started.

"Two…" I continued.

"Three," she finished, already beginning to say what I dreaded to think were five small words that could hurt so much.

"Please don't break up with me," I pleaded, while she said, quite plainly, as clear as day,

"I love you."

We stared at each other. And stared. And stared. And stared.

I smiled the largest smile I had smiled in a while. But then, she laughed. Yes, you heard right. She _laughed. _I frowned.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, bewildered. I just nearly had a nervous-breakdown, and she's _laughing._

"W-w-why would y-y-you th-think I would b-b-break up with you?" she asked, still laughing hysterically. Yes, _hysterically_.

"Well," I started, embarrassed. "You were acting all nervous… and fidgety. I thought that you were gonna break up with me."

She finally-_finall y _- calmed herself, and resettled herself on my lap. "But I do love you, ya know," she stated firmly.

I decided to have a little fun with it. To get her back for _laughing_ at me. The nerve of her! "Yeah, I know."

She tensed up a little but relaxed once more, curving into the shape of my body. I put my head in her hair, taking in the smell of it. It smelt like flowers. And vanilla. And chocolate. I sighed, contented.

"So, what do you wanna do tonight?" she asked, her eyes getting heavy.

"Hmm. I dunno. What do you wanna do?" I replied with a question of my own.

"Wanna just hang here? I'm tired. I need to take a nap. I love my major in child psychology, but I hate the eight classes I have to take for it," she muttered, already half asleep. I chuckled.

"Alright. I might just join you," I murmured.

"You better."

I carried her over to my bed (swimming _does_ give you a lot of arm strength), and laid her down before I got down right side of her and laid my arm across her stomach.

Just as she was starting to drift off, I murmured, "Oh, and by the way? I love you too."

A/N: Hate it? Love it? My birthday was a couple days ago… Reviews are a nice way to surprise me… I know Nate's a little OOC in my opinion, but, what can I do? I don't really know how Nate's like; I just LOVE all Sarah Dessen couples, especially this one. I'm trying to make a bunch of one-shots (yes, for all you who read my HP fics who are thinking "NO! WORK ON THEM! I'm sorry, I have "New Beginnings" written out, "A Marauder's Tale of Love and Life" is pretty easy, and "The Unexpected RunIn is gotten me in a pickle that I'm trying to work myself out of. I'm sorry!) for her books right now.

Oh! I don't own Lock and Key. That masterful piece of work is all Sarah Dessen


End file.
